Top Shelf: Sizing up the U.S. and Canadian Olympic teams

Philadelphia, PA – After the first few days of free agency come and go there is precious little news to keep hockey fanatics going until training camps begin in September.

Fortunately, the summer of 2013 is a bit different because there is Olympic-
related hockey talk to fill the void.

Since mid-July, when it was officially announced that NHL players would indeed
be allowed to represent their respective nations at the 2014 Winter Olympics
in Sochi, Russia, there has been a steady buzz surrounding the men's hockey
tournament at the upcoming Winter Games.

Take this week for example, when Teams USA and Canada held their Olympic
Orientation camps in Arlington, Va. and Calgary, Alberta, respectively.
Although high insurance costs prevented both nations from putting their camp
invitees through the paces on the ice, the gatherings dominated hockey
headlines in North America despite the lack of actual hockey being played.

As the word "orientation" suggests these camps are used mainly to get
potential Olympians used to being around each other. In fact, the most labor-
intensive activity at either the Canadian or American camps was when Team
Canada head coach Mike Babcock put his players through a ball-hockey exercise
on an international-sized rink. Babcock's drill, however, was not about
conditioning but rather a lesson in how a bigger ice surface changes how you
prepare to play.

After all, the ice surface will be a big factor at the 2014 Sochi Games.
Nearly four years ago when Babcock's Team Canada bested the Americans for Gold
at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the tournament was staged on an NHL-sized
surface. It's hardly a coincidence that the two North American teams in
competition were also the last two teams left standing in Vancouver, but the
U.S. and Canada won't have that advantage come February in Russia.

In fact, the last time the Winter Olympics were played overseas on an
international-sized rink neither Canada nor the U.S. made it out of the
quarterfinals, while Sweden, Finland and Czech Republic finished first, second
and third, respectively, at the 2006 Turin Games.

But, the U.S. and Canada did have success on an international-sized rink at
the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, where the Canadians earned another Gold medal
at the expense of the Americans.

Team Canada general manager Steve Yzerman and U.S. GM David Poile both have
large talent pools to draw their 25-man rosters from and their task is to find
which players best fit the international game. Strong skaters and players who
make sound decisions with the puck are a must on the bigger ice sheet, but
there is room for specialists like a power forward or a physical defenseman.

Canada's depth is its biggest strength, but that also has its drawbacks.
Plenty of GMs from other nations would like to have Yzerman's job because of
Canada's embarrassment of riches in terms of hockey skill, but the vast talent
pool also means Stevie Y has some extremely difficult roster decisions to
make, particularly at the forward positions.

In the end, some star players will be left off the team when the rosters are
officially announced later this year, meaning marquee players like Milan Lucic
or Martin St. Louis could be at home watching the Winter Games instead of
trying to help Team Canada secure another Gold.

Poile has intimated that half of his 25-man roster is already locked in and
there's no doubt that one of those spots belongs to goaltender Jonathan Quick,
the man who could give U.S. its best chance of dethroning the Canadians. With
apologies to 2010 Olympic hero Ryan Miller, the Los Angeles Kings backstop is
the American's clear-cut No. 1 netminder with Miller as a distant No. 2.

Canada, meanwhile, will probably lean towards Roberto Luongo in goal, but guys
like Carey Price and Corey Crawford could potentially play themselves into the
No. 1 spot with a strong start to the NHL season.

The make-up of the final 25-man rosters will depend greatly on how well
individual guys play over the first half of the upcoming NHL campaign. With
that in mind, here's my early guess as to what those 25-man groups could look
like.